Q. Permatern: I'm a recent college graduate who has been job-hunting for the past 16 months. During this time I've done three internships, and it looks as if this one may actually have an opening. Trouble is, I've been placed on a job with another potential hire who doesn't seem to care about the job as much as I do. I've been consistently doing twice the work, putting in longer hours, and running myself ragged trying to impress my boss. Now I've learned that they want to hire both of us, and keep us working together. How should I explain to my supervisor that this work setup is awful, and how do I keep from exploding from all of the pressure of a potential job?

My guess is that, ultimately, the ostensibly lazier intern will have a more successful career. Work smarter, not harder, and all of that.

Becker believes that reducing high school and college drop-out rates would reduce poverty. Posner believes channeling public funds into early childhood education and nutrition would reduce poverty. I am not sure either of them is correct. I think they have their causality backwards. People aren't poor because they're uneducated; they're uneducated because they're poor. You have to think rich to be rich. It's a tough thing to wrap your head around, but I believe anybody can do it.